31. Brie

CHAPTER 31

Brie

I expect the shakes to hit any moment now, for the shock to set in like it did after the assassination attempt in the elevator. But as Nik and I make our way through back corridors, I’m surprised to find myself completely steady. Apart from the blood soaking my robe—Holden’s blood—I could be walking to any normal meeting.

Maybe this is what happens when you finally stop running from who you are, when you embrace the power that’s always been inside you.

The quiet follows us through corridors and past Terry’s old office until we turn the corner to reach my private dressing room. As soon as the door clicks shut behind us, I turn to face Nik. “I’m so sorry,” I say again, the words coming easier now that I’ve stopped fighting them. “Eva Novak’s been whispering poison in my ear and I was stupid enough to listen. To let her make me doubt the one person who’s never given me reason to doubt her.”

“I should have told you about the dinner with Eva.” Nik’s voice is soft but firm. “But I need you to understand something, Brie. I would never do anything to hurt you. Not ever.”

“I know.” I step closer, drawn to her like always. “I’d be a fool to think anything other than that you’re trying to protect me.”

Nik pauses, something vulnerable flickering across her face. My heart catches.

“What are you thinking?” I ask.

“I took your advice.” She meets my eyes steadily. “I thought about what I want my position to be in life. What I really want.”

My heart pounds against my ribs. After everything that’s happened tonight, this feels like standing on the edge of something massive. Something that could change everything. “And what did you decide?”

“I want you . But…” She hesitates. “My whole purpose being with you was keeping you safe. But you’re perfectly capable of taking care of yourself. You proved that tonight. So…I’ll understand if you feel you don’t need me.”

The fear in her voice—that I might reject her, that I might not need her—nearly breaks my heart.

“How could I ever send you away,” I whisper, stepping close enough to take her hand, “when I’ve fallen so completely in love with you?”

The shock on her face would be comical if it wasn’t so endearing. “I’m so sorry I never said it before. I was a total coward. Still running, after all those years…” I sniff, try to blink away the tears, and then I hear myself sob-laughing. “Nik, I love you, too. And I really want to kiss you right now, but…” I gesture at my blood-stained robe.

She grabs my hand and pulls me into the bathroom, where she turns on the shower and then starts to yank the robe off of me. The move surprises me, but in a good way, and I can’t help giving a smirk. “I thought I was supposed to be in charge.”

“Oh, you are.” She tosses the ruined robe into a corner and turns back to me. “I’ll do whatever you say, whenever you say it. So if you want me to stop taking care of you, you better tell me right now.”

I’m grinning as she reaches for my bra. “Never.”

“Thank God,” she murmurs, unhooking the garment and tossing it aside. “Now say it again.”

“I love you, Nik Kusek.”

She smiles, sighs. “I love you, too, Brie Colombo.” She leans in and kisses me, soft and sweet, a silent promise. “Now let’s get you cleaned up.”

I still have blood on me, here and there, leaving stains across my skin. I think of Holden for a moment…but only for a moment. Eva Novak was right about one thing: this job will require me to harden my heart.

But not to Nik. Never to Nik.

She holds my heart in her hands, and I’ll trust her to keep it safe, even when I can’t.

She guides me into the shower, too tiny for more than one of us, but she doesn’t seem to mind getting wet as she stands at the open door to help me sluice off the blood, then wash my hair. When I’m done, she’s holding up my towel for me before I even need to ask, wrapping one around my wet hair as well, and then helping to pat me dry.

“That’s much better,” I say, wrapping the towel around me by habit and tucking it in.

But Nik isn’t satisfied. She steps close, her fingers swiftly plucking at the towel until she has it loosened, and then lets it fall to the ground, leaving me completely naked.

“ That’s much better,” she murmurs. “You know how much I love looking at you?”

I run my hands over my body, enjoying the way she stares at me, the way her eyes trace every curve, the way her gaze heats. I don’t feel the least bit self-conscious. Instead, I’m amazed by the hunger in her eyes. The way her breath comes faster as I caress my own body, touching my breasts, teasing my nipples. “You like to look?” I give a grin. “Then come with me. I’ll give you a show.”

I take her hand and pull her back to the dressing room, where I seat her on my vanity chair while I sit on the edge of the couch bed a few feet away. I shake out my wet hair and let it fall to my shoulders, drip a few stray drops over my tits. Nik watches their descent, and then her eyes widen when I spread my legs and lean back on the bed, my pussy open to her.

“Do you like watching me do this, Nik?” I ask, sliding a finger alongside my cunt. She nods. “Say it.”

“I like watching you do that. Very much.” Her voice is thick, heavy.

I can’t stop smiling. I’ve never felt so powerful and in control, and yet utterly, deliciously owned . To be doing what I want, when I want, but only for her.

And God, the pleasure of pleasing her.

“Keep your eyes on me,” I command. “Or I’ll stop.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’m going to get myself nice and wet for you,” I tell her. “And then, when I’m ready, you’re going to worship my pussy. Would you like that?”

She leans forward with a dreamy smile, elbows on her knees, eyes intent on my cunt. “So very much.”

I spread my pussy lips open with one hand and use the other to rub slow, lazy circles on my clit, enjoying the way Nik’s gaze stays riveted to my motions, her pupils wide, her breath shallow. I dip a finger inside, and her tongue darts out, tracing her bottom lip.

“You like what you’re seeing?” I ask, my voice low and husky.

“I love it,” she whispers. “Love you . Can I taste?”

“Get on the bed,” I pant out. “I wanna sit on your face.”

She’s off the chair in a heartbeat, bouncing as she hits the mattress and rolls onto her back. I swing around to straddle her head with my back to the rest of her body. At other times I might like to see her laid out before me, watch her body respond as I ride her mouth, but not right now. This is about control, and I intend to take it fully.

Be the queen I know I am.

“You have the hottest, sweetest pussy,” she murmurs from between my thighs.

“Show me how much you love me.” I lower myself onto her carefully, but she pulls me down, smothering herself in me. The sudden heat and squirming tongue makes me moan, and I have to put my hands out to the back of the couch to steady myself.

Nik’s fingers dig into the cheeks of my ass, holding me in place while her tongue works its magic, first tracing delicate patterns on my inner lips, and then circling my clit. Her fingers are busy as well, trailing up and down my asscrack, and when one starts to probe my asshole, I let out a little moan. She does it again, massaging gently until the ring of muscle relaxes for her, so that she has the tip of my finger in my hole, wriggling around, the sensation making me squirm and grind down on her face all the more.

She lets my clit slide into her mouth, fluttering her tongue over the sensitive bud, and at the same time her finger slips deeper into my ass, the way made wet by my own juices. It feels so good, so incredible with her finger and her mouth working in perfect synchronicity…

“I’m going to come,” I gasp out, and she pulls me down harder, tongue swirling around, her finger fucking me in a way that feels both decadent and dirty—and I’m gone, my body shaking, convulsing, a long, loud wail escaping me, riding her face so hard I think I’m going to suffocate her?—

She pushes me up, gasping for air, and then she’s on top of me before my climax has fully faded, lining up her cunt with mine and pinning me to the mattress, her hands on my wrists, her weight heavy but so fucking sexy. She begins to rock desperately against me, and God, the slickness, the heat, the pressure—the fire inside me is roaring back, higher than ever, and I’m bucking against her, begging her to keep fucking me.

She fucks me so hard the bed begins to squeal as loudly as I am, the springs protesting, the couch back banging against the wall, but I don’t care about the noise. I want to be loud, I want everyone in this whole goddamn casino to hear us, to know that I’m here and I’m taking back what’s mine, and most of all, that she’s mine.

We’re so soaking wet it’s impossible to tell where I end and she begins, but the way her clit slides against mine, diamond-hard, the way her lips touch mine, the way she presses against me—all of it is just right , the exact pressure I need, the exact speed.

Her climax takes her first, her breath hitching, and then she’s shaking, grinding against me, her hips losing rhythm, and the sounds she’s making, the way she pants and curses, it’s so hot, it’s too much , and I’m sure the whole hotel hears me coming this time, if they didn’t already before.

And that’s just fine by me.

We collapse in a heap, the bed complaining under us, and she’s kissing my breasts, my neck, and finally my mouth, and then her arms are around me, pulling me into her, and God, there’s nothing better than this.

Nothing better than her.

We curl into each other, and I let my drowsy eyes travel the room, a smile on my lips as I think about how much I’m going to love getting dressed in this room if Nik is with me each time, doing that before I head out to the casino floor. If all those men forgot about the place before, they won’t be able to ignore it anymore, not with the noise coming out of it.

I sit bolt upright, the bedsprings giving an ominous squeal, and Nik rolling to the side, startled. “Oh my God ,” I gasp.

Nik is instantly alert, reaching for her gun on the small table next to the couch. “What is it?”

I can’t believe I didn’t realize before. All this time, the answer was right here.